Pursuit
by lichenstein-blop
Summary: Blackbeard was utterly humiliated last time Luffy got away, so this time he is determined to capture and present him as a gift to the marines. What will Ace and the Straw-hats crew do to save Luffy from the imminent danger approaching him?
1. Chapter 1

**Pursuit**

**Warnings: ** oOc-ness, spelling errors, grammar and all.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own One piece, Oda Eiichiro does

I quite enjoyed the episode when Blackbeard tries to capture Luffy when he found out that Luffy was worth 100 million but he escaped because of the Knock-up stream :) and so I thought of this idea and all

Just sharing it with you guys :D

Hope you enjoy~

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Chapter 1

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"Geez!" the man shouted in frustration through the gaps of his teeth. "Why aren't there any big shot pirates here!" He turned his head around with his curly black hair following behind and he gazed upon the beaten pirates here and there in the vast land that used to be a town only mere minutes ago.

His condescending stare gave the pirates the chill as they crawled up to other pirates that they would have considered their enemies, if they weren't also the victims of the pirate 'Blackbeard' who wielded undeniable strength and power.

This pirate 'Blackbeard' wore green trousers with black patterned lines, a yellow sash above his waist to hold his liquor and a couple of hand guns. Unlike the other men behind him, he uniquely had a large black and gold coat draped over his shoulders- in other words, he was the captain of this pirate group.

"But captain! All these pirates are at least over 10 million beli each! If we hand them all to the government we could be rich!" a man with an even bigger build stepped forward and picked one pirate up by the collar using only his hands, treating human weight as if it were on the same scale as an ant. The others pirates all shuffled and crawled back with their leftover strength, feeling pressured.

"Jesus! I don't care about small fish!" Blackbeard shouted back, ignoring the sighs of relief from the beaten pirates. "We need to hand over a guy over 100 million beli so I can have my Shichibukai status! We already have more than enough money!" his point proved when he pointed at his helmsman 'Champion' Jesus Burgess, showing off all the jewels and rings on his fingers.

"Damn it! Where is Straw-Hat?" He muttered "His 100 million beli head would be more than enough." casually taking a 'seat' on a of a pile of pirates.

"We don't really need to capture Straw Hat Luffy, right? there are plenty of other pirates that are over 100 million beli." Jesus said just wondering why his captain, who was usually so easy going about things, so fixated on capturing Straw-hat Luffy.

"Have you forgotten Jesus." another man replied the 'champion' in place of his captain. This man carried himself very calmly and his clothes, compared to his captain, were dapper. The left lens of his black framed glasses covered one eye but his right eye was a circular eyepiece which appeared to be a cross-hair. It was used for higher accuracy to shoot opponents with his rifle, Senriku, that he carried with the support of his shoulder because of its size.

"Forgotten what Auge?"

"The Captain is just mad at Straw Hat Luffy when he escaped from our clutches last time." replied 'supersonic' Van Auge.

"Oh, during that time at Mock Town."

Auge nodded. "We announced that we were going to take his head but they successfully escaped because of that pillar of water that shot up which, utterly destroyed our raft like ship."

"We were completely humiliated that day, especially the captain." Auge stated 'we', guessing that himself and the rest of the crew felt the same as their captain. Though it might have slipped out of one's mind, glancing suspiciously at a certain muscle-head. "Even though captain claims that he is searching for big-shots, he is specifically searching for Straw Hat. That's why he doesn't like staying on one island for too long or else Fire-fist Ace will catch up to him and fighting him will eat up too much of our time."

"Why would Fire Fist Ace be chasing us?" Jesus asked, baffled at the idea why the second division commander of the White-beard Pirates would be chasing his captain.

"Do you think with your fist?" Auge stated coldly, still expressionless as ever. "Captain killed a crewmate when he was on Whitebeard's ship to obtain his devil fruit. Who else, but the commander of the second division he was from, would chase us?"

"Oh I see." The 'champion' nodded, disregarding his earlier insult.

"Really, I can't tell if Straw Hat's lucky to have escaped."

"Straw Hat Luffy is lucky, but now that he had been targeted by us, it can only fall." A sickly looking man said. This man was riding on the back of his horse, and was wearing a large black fur that covered most of his body. His pallid expression and his scythe he used as a weapon would definitely never occur to anyone that he was the crews doctor, but it was very befitting of his epithet 'Grim Reaper.' "His fate to be captured by us and handed over to the government."

"Neiggghhh!" His horse, named Stronger, agreed.

"Have you seen Straw-Hat?" 'Blackbeard' Marshall D. Teach interrogated the pirate he was previously sitting on using the newest method of interrogation: picking him up by his feet and shaking him up and down for an answer.

"..."

"Captain, I think he has already lost consciousness." Jesus said, noticing the man's face has turned red from the blood gushing to his head and the bubbles foaming in his mouth.

"Tsk, small fry." Blackbeard threw him to the side like piece of trash. "We've lost track of Straw Hat ages ago! When will the heavens be on my side!"

"Captain." A voice called from the sky."I think the heavens have finally sided with us." He descended down, folding his wings away and landed in front of his captain. His complexion was tones paler than everyone else but his occasional tap-dancing proved that he was actually quite healthy. A held the rim of his black top hat in one hand so that it wouldn't fly off during his land while his abnormally big circular earrings that look like they could be bracelets jingled around. In the other hand he clutched his red cane and a newspaper.

"Laffite! You're late! We have got to set sail soon!" The captain growled.

"Now, now captain." Laffite replied not even flinching an eyelash from his captains growl. "Here take a look at this. It will please you." he smiled mysteriously, confident in his words.

Blackbeard took the newspaper from his subordinates hands and skimmed through the pages. Reading, in Blackbeard's case was something he trusted with his crewmates to do and they would inform him of the important news. But if Laffite was personally telling him to read it, then it was probably considerably worth reading with his own eyes.

"Zehahahahaha!" Blackbeard broke out in laughter as his hands controlling the pages stopped. "This is good Laffite!"

Jesus was thrilled to see his captains usual behaviour bounce back and he threw his hands up in a cheer pose. "Captain! What caused the sudden change of mood?"

"I told you to work on your deduction abilities." Auge said with no expression as usual. "It must be that Straw-Hat Luffy was mentioned in the newspaper."

"That's right Auge!" Blackbeard said. "It seems that he took down the Judiciary Island!" he revealed the newspaper to his crew. A picture of the Judiciary Island in ruins suffering from the effect of the Buster call. But what caught everyone's attention was the seven new bounty posters that fell from within the newspaper and scattered around the floor.

"This is the Straw-Hat crew." Auge stated while reading the article and drawing his conclusion which was right on mark.

"With this Straw-Hat's bounty is bound to rise!" Jesus cheered

"Rise is an understatement Jesus!" Blackbeard said, a victorious look on his face."It tripled!" he held out a wanted poster that read 'Monkey D. Luffy' with a new bounty of 300 million beli.

"We can catch Straw hat and earn 300 million beli! That's killing two birds with one stone! Hahahahaha! But captain, capturing the ENTIRE crew could earn us more than 600 million beli, should be catch them too?" Jesus asked after looking at the rest of the high bounties on the crew.

Auge's eyebrow twitched slightly, discreetly giving Jesus the look of 'wow, you can do maths.'

"Nah! Forget the rest of the crew! They are not my target." Blackbeard waved his hands, declining his mates idea to rack in some more money. "But..." he smiled wickedly, "if they get in our way feel free to kill them."

"Woohoo! Can I really smash their small necks in pieces?"

"Sure, but killing them is only an option when they seriously become a nuisance." Blackbeard said. "Making them suffering in pain of losing their captain sounds more fun right?" his wicked smiled stretched from one ear to the other.

"What about Straw Hat? He defeated Rob Lucci of CP9, capturing him won't be that easy." Auge commented, still reading the article.

"Keep him alive at all costs! or else my 'gift' to Sengoku won't be as magnificent anymore."

"CAPTAIN!" Jesus shouted, his enthusiasm already reaching the peak before they have even set sail. "Are you a sadist by any chance?" when Jesus said this as a question, the rest of the crew was thinking that it should have been a statement instead.

"Zehahahahaha!" Blackbeard just laughed, it was hard to tell whether he was agreeing or disagreeing but whichever one he said, everybody else knew that there was no doubt that he was.

"So where should we go? Enies Lobby?"

Laffite who was standing there the entire time, observing the reactions of the crew with an all-knowing look finally spoke up. "Enies Lobby is famous for having for having a sea train running all the way from Water Seven."

"So we should go to Water Seven?" The champion asked, unable to understand what Laffite was indirectly saying.

"No," Auge replied. "This article is from two days ago. They are probably preparing to depart, if not already departed. Even though we are close to Water Seven, we would only be chasing their tail."

"So what should we do?"

"They should be heading towards Fish-man Island but before that they need to cross Florian Triangle."

"Should we catch them at Florian Triangle then?" Jesus was starting to get annoyed, his mates were being too vague.

"Florian Triangle is famous as a stretch of sea that is covered in thick fog." Laffite said, demonstrating his knowledge. He was the navigator though, so it must have essential to know this information. "There is a high chance that we will lose them in the fog."

"That won't be good." Blackbeard shook his head. "I can't afford to let that pesky brat run away from me any longer."

"Then what should we do?" The helmsman asked.

"That's simple." Laffite answered with a smile. "We intercept them. Meaning, we just have to approach them before they reach Florian Triangle."

"Oi, Laffite! What's the Island that fulfils those terms?" Blackbeard called standing up, fixing his creased coat.

"Endet Island." Laffite said whilst smirking.

"Zehahahahaha! That's perfect, couldn't ask for a better place."

"It's not far from here." Auge was just as 'expressionless' as ever but his crewmates didn't fail to notice a flicker of curiosity in his eye when he was staring at the 'Sogeking' wanted poster and article that had called him the sharpshooter with near 100% accuracy, shooting from over a mile away.

"To be within our firing range...how pitiful...an unlucky bunch they are..." The grim reaper coughed lightly as he and his horse trotted along.

"Straw Hat! You were doomed to fall the second we targeted you!" Blackbeard yelled towards the sky as if he were talking to Straw hat, kicking away the pirates collapsed on the road and paying no attention to the villagers who were 'inconspicuously' hiding among the rubble of their demolished homes. He had already taken their valuables, food and their home, what else could he rob of them? "Zehahahahaha! Let's go men!"

* * *

"What...is this" he muttered. This was already the fourth civilization he had seen destroyed just because he was in the pursuit of a single man. He held the rim of his orange hat, as a way to quell his raging heart. Though in the back of his mind, he hoped to find someone who can fill him in on the details.

All of the pirates had been dealt with thoroughly and majority were either dead or on their last breath. Suffering from many broken bones, life-threatening cuts and blood loss. They were beyond the point of recoverable, cause unlike some 'monster' brother he knew with incredible life force, these pirates have probably been brought up much thrown into a bottomless ravine or sent into a jungle filled with beasts at night and getting tied onto balloons and sent towards the sky would have remained a nightmare inside a nightmare. So interrogating them was out of the question.

The continued walking around, believing that maybe the villages could help him. But that idea wasn't such a feasible one. After all, their lives has just been ruined by a pirate so for them to believe him would remain close to impossible. Lots of villagers were crying, lending each other's shoulders to cry on. They too seemed to suffer physically quite a bit but their hearts must have suffered an even greater damage. It was not an everyday occurrence when a man appeared like a whirl storm taking away **everything **an instant.

The thought of giving up and somehow searching for information on his own, a small voice grasped his attention.

"Mama! Mama!" a child was screaming while one hand clawed at the debris, attempting to push it away. The other hand tugged at the lifeless like form, who had their legs buried under the debris.

"You have to run..." the women under the debris caressed her child hair. "This place is dangerous, stuff could fall down soon."

"But mama!" she had tears trickling down her face, she understood that she couldn't just abandon her mother but she also understood that her strength was nowhere near enough to save her mother. As a child, she was torn between abandoning her mother or dying together with her.

But like the woman had guessed, the stability of the piled debris was not stable and could fall any minute now. It was as if something, something had sucked everything in and spat it all back out completely smashed, thus the foundation was not very strong, especially with a woman crushed underneath.

A pile of broken wood started to fall down right above where the small child was. The woman knew that her child had no time to escape, so hopefully she could use the last of her strength to protect her baby girl with her body.

"HIKEN!" he unleashed a fiery fist that pushed the falling material away and also adjusted the size and power accordingly so that the small child and her mother would only feel a light warmth. He couldn't just let such an incident happen before his eyes, even if they might bear a grudge against him.

The woman sighed, relieved that the danger has miraculously disappeared, replaced with warmth similar to that of a fire. Only problem was that, there was no fire.

He walked up towards the woman and lifted the debris crushing her legs with ease and carried her and her child to the nearest 'corpse free' area. He smiled at the scene when the child was crying her heart out, burying her face in her mother's chest, desiring the comfort she was so close to losing. The man sighed in relief that the family was back as one. He truly understood how lonely it felt being left alone in this world.

* * *

"Who are you?" She asked, skeptical as to what was happening. She had known that pirates were generally bad, her point further supported when a pirate gang had earlier ransacked and destroyed this village. But now, this man had protected her, saved her and is now giving her medical treatment by wrapping her legs in bandages to stop the blood flow. There was no choice but to believe that he meant no harm.

"I'm Portgas D. Ace." Ace replied. "I have a few things I want to ask you, despite your condition. I apologise in advance."

"Portgas D. Ace?!" She jerked up in surprise which turned out to be a bad idea causing she winced at the pain that throbbed in her legs. Half of her surprise was nothing out of the ordinary, witnessing a pirate as infamous as he is **here **was like a miracle but the other half was completely unexpected. Who would have thought the second division commander of the formidable Whitebeard Pirates had such manners?

"Wow! Mister you are a pirate?" the small girl's head shot up from her mother's chest. Stars twinkled in her eyes once she heard the identity of her savior, completely forgetting that a pirate had also caused her such grief earlier.

"Yeah," Ace said, suddenly finding it harder to ask about the earlier pirate when she expressed such an innocent, vulnerable smile. However it was necessary, in order to stop this man from other unforgiving deeds such as this one. "Can you remember the appearance of the guy who assaulted this place?"

"YEAAH!" she said enthusiastically, to Ace's surprise. "he was big! dirty! and had black oily hair!" she said, gesturing his appearance with her hands as well.

"Any distinguishing features?" Ace turned towards the women, seeing as how the little girl had a limited vocabulary.

"Mmmm," she put her finger on her lips and thought for a while."Ah! he had a black beard..."

Bingo.

"Then, did he mention where he was going?"

"Yes, I heard it clearly. He said he was going to Endet Island."

Ace scratched his wavy, black hair wondering why he, now out of all times be going to Endet Island out of all places. Did he have something he wanted to accomplish?

"Did he by any chance mention what he was going to do?"

She shook her head. "No, I lost unconsciousness from then til when this naughty girl arrived." she looked at her child while stroking her finger through her soft hair. The little lady was rolling on the grass, bathing in sunlight. Despite being only a child, she probably instinctively knew that savoring what she was left and what was saved was much better than lamenting over what's lost.

After staring at her for a while, Ace noticed that the smallest things caught her eye which affected her attention span, instantly intrigued by it. She indeed reminded him of a slow-little brother he had. _I wonder how Luffy's doing? _Ace thought, his mind drifting off the point before he shook his head from side to side, refusing to be drawn into this girl's pace.

"I see." Ace coughed, hoping that the woman didn't get any particular ideas when he stared at her for a whole minute. But still, without figuring out what Blackbeard was trying to do what the same as chasing him around blinding, just plainly following in his tracks. But little information was better than none. "Thanks for the information, See you." And Ace gave a small bow and ran off in the direction he parked his Striker.

The woman drew one similarity between both the pirates, the fact that they both appear and disappear like that.

"Mama." the small child tugged at her sleeve, her attention directed back at her mother once she noticed the pirate skull slowly disappear. "I know! I know!"

"You know what?"

"I know what the bad guy is going to do at Endet Island."

"What?"

"He said he was going to go capture some straw pirate!"

"Straw Pirate?" the mother was confused as to what her daughter was saying, but she was also quite disappointed that she couldn't have passed this on to Ace. This small piece of information could have changed something, even thought it might not have meant much.

"Should I have told good pirate?" she asked, regret slowly growing apparent in her eyes.

She lovingly caressed her child's hair to bring back that smile. "No, I sure it would have been unnecessary information."

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**How was it? Please give me your opinion :D **

**Please Review ~**


	2. Chapter 2

**Pursuit**

**Warnings: ** oOc-ness. spelling errors, grammar and all.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own One piece, Oda Eiichiro does

Hello guys~ thanks for the good response for chapter 1 :D

It's late and I'm sleepy so I'm not going to say anymore yeah, if you've forgotton Kokoro is that human-mermaid lady that travelled to Enies Loby with Luffy and co.

Well night guys ;)

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Chapter 2

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He sprawled himself out on the lawn deck and stared up at the clear, blue sky and groaned. The scene of just the blue sky with no birds or clouds was too plain and lacked too little excitement for one who lived the life of a pirate. The sea reflected the sky, it was tranquil enough for him to think he was lying on a stationary island instead of a moving ship.

"Ahhhhh!" He sighed, expressing his immense levels of boredom, continuing to gnaw the bone even though the meat had long disappeared into his stomach. "Today is such a..."

There was a sudden creak of a door, and a woman walked out from the girls' quarters. It seems that she had finally felt the tiredness after drawing maps in her room for most of the day and so she took a deep breath and stretched "Mmmm.." she smiled, feeling relieved at how behaved the weather was. "Today is such a ..."

"...bad/ great day!" The two people said simultaneously with differing opinions but it finally made the two realise the presence of the other.

"Ah Nami!" he said as he tilted his head back to look at his navigator.

"You know Luffy," she looked at her captain sprawled on the lawn deck. "I don't suppose you're bored?" is what she was about to say, but she caught herself at the last moment. This was Luffy, her simple-minded, adventure loving captain. She has known him for long enough to be able to tell which activities he does whenever he's bored. Taking interest in a book was one and sprawling on the lawn doing nothing was another. So in this case, she should ask something different.

"Yeah, what is it? Can you spot an island?"

"That's really unattractive." Nami said.

Luffy had his scruffy, black hair exposed which would usually go unnoticed because he was always wearing his trademark straw-hat. He had changed out of his clothes from Water 7, the one he had received from galley-la Company and seemed to have changed into his casual attire: A vest and short trousers. Though this time instead of a red vest and blue shorts, he wore a blue vest and black shorts. He either must of being really lazy or it was his new idea of 'sun baking' because his none of the buttons were buttoned up so it fell either side of his body, exposing his chest towards the sky.

"Huh. I see." Luffy replied as he picked his nose, receiving a sigh from Nami in response. His common sense compared to normal men scaled down another 4 levels.

"I can't believe you would just quietly lie here though Luffy..." Nami said.

"That's because no one will play with me." he pouted and rolled over to his stomach flinging his arms and legs.

_What a childish response followed by a childish action..._Nami thought _This guy is my captain...right?_

"Zoro was busy training and kicked me out of the room, Franky was building something and got annoyed at me for breaking stuff, Robin was reading and kept talking about stuff I didn't know, Sanji was cooking and refused to give me any food and you..." Luffy glared at Nami. "Punched me out of your room before I even said anything."

"Now I think about it...something like that happened?" Nami said and passed it off with a little laugh. "What about your usual play mates?" she scanned around the ship for a long-nose and a reindeer.

"Hmmm? Aren't they right next to you?"

Nami turned her head towards the corner and finally noticed the two squatting close to each other for comfort, clouds of fear and melancholy loomed over their heads. "W-what's wrong?"

"NNNNAAAAMMMMMIIIIII~" Usopp jumped up, stretching out her name three times longer than usual with tears pouring from his eyes as he approached Nami in a zombie-like movement. Even she recoiled a bit, despite it being just Usopp. "You're scared right? You don't want go right? You're against it right? You don't want to be taken to the other world by ghosts right?" he bombarded her with questions.

"Wait. wait. wait! Usopp what are you talking about?" and in a very unhappy way,

"Kokoro baa-san( baa-san is a way of addressing a female senior) told us about our next destination, Florian Triangle, is a place where _they_ come out."

Usopp said, his shaking legs just buckled.

Nami's complexion went several tones paler after remembering the words of Kokoro-san and Usopp took it as a good sign. Because if their navigator refused to go then there would be no way we could get there. That was his and chopper's great plan called the 'make-Nami-surrender-so-we-can-avoid-ghosts-plan!' 

"Apparently there is** lots** of treasure that could be scavenged from the abandoned ships." Luffy said while getting up.

"But Nami-" Usopp had tried to intervene before the idea of money climbs its way into the navigators mind…..but was too late.

"OKAY LETS GO! TO FLORIAN TRIANGLE!" she shouted, throwing her fist into the air. "LETS GO FOR THE TREAS-I MEAN ADVENTURE! SOMEONE WHO'S SCARED OF GHOSTS CAN'T BE CALLED A PIRATE!"

"THAT'S RIGHT NAMI!" Luffy seemed to have graduated from his boredom and was filled with even more enthusiasm. "IT'S FOR THE ADVENTURE!"

Usopp fell on all fours in front of Chopper, the only friend that backed up his plan. "Sorry...and like, why can't Luffy notice that his purpose and Nami's purpose aren't on the same wavelength? She stuttered earlier as well and the look of money in her eyes are shining."

That was their navigator's skewed sense of value. "But we are still going to come across an island before we enter Florian Triangle." Nami said.

"What?" Usopp, Luffy and Chopper perked up at the information.

"It's an island called Endet Island."

* * *

"HEY THERE IS AN ISLAND UP AHEAD!" The swordsman, who was on observing duty bellowed down towards the rest of the crew from the observing deck. It wasn't a job he particularly hated but he wouldn't say he liked it either. It was just onvenient. The view was great and his training tools were all inside so he could multitask. The disadvantages were that he wasn't allowed to sleep or else Nami would make him pay for slacking and it was rarely quiet since Luffy was always making all the ruckus down at the deck. So today's change of pace was a nice experience.

"Speak of the devil, see, that's Endet Island." Nami said pointing at the Island they could see in the far distance.

"Hmmmm...still can't see." Luffy admitted, unable to make out the details of the island to judge whether it was fun or not.

"It's over a kilometre away! It would be scary if you could see." Usopp said as he took out his sniper goggles. "WOW! What a weird Island. Leaving Luffy aside, I think I'm pretty well-informed but Endet Island? Never heard of it until now. Where did you get this kind of information Nami?"

"You know how my mother was a former marine?" Nami said

"Yeah"

"Once I overheard her while she was talking to someone from the Marine HQ. I didn't know what they were talking about but I heard them say 'Endet Island' and Bellemere-san had this very dark expression on her face when she heard that name."

"So it's a dangerous island?"

"I don't know. I tried researching it but it was unknown in all the books at my village, the people had no idea what it was either, except for the fact it was an island. But when I went on my trips to gather money..."

"You mean 'steal' righ-" Usopp meant to finish his sentence but it was forcibly stopped when Nami's fist cleanly connected with his head.

"Shut up! Do you want to listen or not."

"Right, I'm sorry." Usopp said apologetically. "But do you mind giving me a warning before using your fist?" he rubbed his sore spot. Sometimes he thinks the strength in Nami's punch can rival the monster trio.

Nami stared at Usopp for a moment in silence, not refusing but not approving it either. "So, as I was saying…." she changed the subject. "When I went to **gather** money, I heard some rumors of 'Endet Island'. Apparently it's an island that lies just before the Florian Triangle, rich of native food and nutrients and only the most formidable pirate come across it."

"Oh...oh...so I guess we are quite formidable." Usopp struck a pose which was immediately ignored by Nami without a second thought.

"But the geography of the island is quite weird...or so I heard."

"Hey hey, Nami. You've been using a lot of words like 'apparently' or 'think', how sure are you?"

"Not very actually. Like I told you earlier, there was no information on this island in books and most of the information I know are from rumors. Do you still want to hear the geography?"

"Why not, can't hurt right?"

"I heard that the Island is forest populated in the middle, which explains the native fruit and all but the coast is odd. The land is weird."

"Wait, what do you mean?

"The land isn't made out of the same properties."

"Huh?" Usopp said, unable to see where this conversation is proceeding.

"For example, if you were to make one of those fireworks you make, you would only use one type of gunpowder right?"

"Yeah, or else a bad reaction will occur."

"Then think of the island as a firework. Some parts are made out of this type of gunpowder and some are made out of another." Nami explained in a way even Usopp can understand. Thank god it wasn't Luffy, there was only one way for him to understand was to refer it to meat. If he didn't understand it then he would have just said something like "oh I get it, it's a mystery island!"

"But isn't that weird?"

"Well, I told you that it was weird at the start didn't I? Oh and one more thing, I don't get this either but the island is supposedly in the shape of a square or diamond."

* * *

By this point, after all the explaining Nami did, a lot of time had passed and the Island was growing more and more apparent. The rest of the crew had already started gathering at the deck, everyone except for Robin. She was no doubt reading, and when Robin was in the middle of a book that piqued her interest she would let it go until the end.

Since the island was still pretty far away, but close enough for them to see the dense forest and sandy beach-like coast. There was also this blob of black in the middle of the sand but they paid no attention to it, concluding it was just some rock.

"But wow this island, looks as if a really huge fish has taken a chomp out of it!" Usopp said noticing how only the corners were intact. Now he looked at it, 'huge fish' and 'chomp' wouldn't be the right description, because a chomp would usually be in the shape of a semi-circle but in this case it was more of a triangle. So a 'huge fish with a triangular shaped mouth has taken a bite out of it' would do, for now.

"That forest seems like a great place to restock on food." The cook peered over the railings, suddenly appearing.

"Didn't you already restock at Water 7 Sanji?" Usopp asked.

"Mm? Yeah, I did but with Luffy as the captain you never know when it could run out." He said shooting a half-smile at Usopp and produced a pack of cigarettes from his breast pocket on his black suit. In a swift motion he took one out and put it in his mouth and lit it.

"Sanji, so you don't smoke while cooking?"

"Most of the time I don't but sometimes I might."

"Why so irregular?"

"Because sometimes I'm just cooking for you retards but most of the time I have to cook for Robin-chwan or Nami-swan." He confessed.

"..." Usopp didn't need to reply nor did he feel the need to question why he didn't smoke when he was cooking for Robin or Nami. Long story short, this guys values were quirkier than Nami's.

"Women trumps and tramples the values of everything else!" he answered the unsaid question.

Usopp walked off, leaving the delusional cook in lala-land. His policy of categorizing people are women, himself, everyone else and then finally Zoro is still in healthy effect. Usopp decided to continue watch the island in closer detail hoping to find some useful information he could jot down.

"Hmmmm?" He zoomed in, in greater detail. "Was that just a Pirate flag?" he questioned himself, cause he swore he saw a cloth of black with lots of small skulls-guessing that three skulls counts as a lot on a Jolly Roger- on it enter his field of vision when he tried to see the other side of the island.

"ISLAND! ADVENTURE! MEAT!" Luffy screamed, distracting Usopp from his thoughts like usual. Was it just him, or did Luffy's excitement for an island just seem to fly past critical point?

"Usopp, it's not just you. This is what happens when you have him suffer half-a-day of boredom." Nami said shaking her head from side to side with her hands on her hips. "I wouldn't be surprised if he shot himself to the island fir-" Nami was going to say 'first' but her rubber captain had already shot himself towards the shore of the island.

"GOMU GOMU NO ROCKET!"

"OI! LUFFY! DID YOU BRING THE BABY DEN DEN MUSHI WITH YOU?" Nami screamed out, her captain flying there first was probably part of her expectations, even though it might have been earlier than expected, given that she didn't even finish her sentence.

"THAT SNAIL? YEAH I GOT!" Luffy replied, giving the rest of the crew one of his cheery grins. No one was that surprised because Luffy was such a capricious captain, if they react to every little thing he did, they would end up more tired. There was also a time when he stormed off in the middle of the desert in search of meat during their Alabasta journey. Luckily, his brother was there that time.

"I'm surprised he had a baby den den mushi." Usopp questioned. That last time he checked, Luffy only ever remembered his hat and his meat.

"I gave it to him earlier in case of such scenarios" Nami said receiving a look of 'are you a psychic?' from Usopp.

"But shouldn't he have taken Chopper with him?"

Chopper perked up when he heard his name.

"Why?"

"Cause there was a fallen man on the shore of the beach. You guys saw it took right?" Usopp said matter-of-factly "you know, that guy wearing all black."

"EHHHHH!" everyone except for Zoro jumped in shock at the fact. "That wasn't a rock!?"

"No it was a person."

"Quick! Quick! Somebody get the doctor!" The reindeer ran around in circles gripping on to his hat. "Oh wait that's me."

"This is a problem..." Nami bit the bottom of her lip. "There's a chance-no, high possibility that Luffy will try something absurd, such as recruiting him if he's awesome." He had already recruited a pirate hunter, a thief, a love-cook, a liar, a reindeer, a devils child and a cyborg. Who knows what he might recruit next, even a skeleton might be a possible candidate. "So! To prevent this from happening..." Nami smirked as she placed her hand on a certain shoulder and drew him closer. "...Zoro, go chase after him."

The green haired swordsman was baffled at the way he suddenly joined into the conversation but even more so at the navigator's request. Jeez, she was always asking the ridiculous from him. "Why do-"

"Can you chase after him?" she said, gripping even tighter on his shoulder.

It was essentially coercion in the form of a question. As a man who didn't feel like listening to orders, except for captain's order in the most crucial times, he naturally felt the urge to defy this coercion but it didn't seem like she would let it fly by. He learnt firsthand by experience.

Zoro walked to the edge, to re-evaluate the distance of the ship and the island. "I can't stretch like Luffy, so how am I supposed to chase after him? At least get a bit closer so I can jump off."

The sound of Nami's high-heeled sandals was approaching closer. "Oh that's okay, don't worry about that..." she placed her hand on Zoro's back and still with her 'innocent' smile she exerted her strength and gave a strong shove.

There was a 'whoa' and then a 'Nami you witch!' followed by a splash in the water.

"...because you can swim all the way there."

* * *

"Robin-chwan!" Sanji called out the second the archaeologist of the crew, Nico Robin had exited her room. Sanji ran in the form of a tornado and fell to one knee before her, presenting a chocolate parfait as a treat on a silver tray.

"Thanks." she said.

"Ask for seconds anytime Robin-chwan." The cook scrambled back to the kitchen, preparing for seconds just in case, while dealing with the protests of Usopp and Chopper on how sexist he was. Giving the women parfaits while the rest of them just have to deal with ice-cream.

"Nami, are we on our way to Florian Triangle?" Robin asked, noticing how slow the ship was proceeding. "Or are we stopping somewhere?" If her memory served her correctly then there should be no islands between Water 7 and Florian Triangle.

"Oh yeah, Robin you were reading a book during the ruckus earlier." Nami said, putting her parfait aside. "We saw an island and decided to take a look, it's closer in sight now. We should be there in another 10 minutes with this calm wind."

"An island?" Robin glanced at the island from the rails and dropped her parfait. The glass shattered on the deck of the floor, spilling the contents of the ice-cream and assorted decorations. Normally, the shipwright, Franky would get angry at such damage to the ship but seeing how it was Robin who did it, there must have been something wrong. "Don't tell me...it's...Endet Island..." Robin voice which was always one with clarity, trembled.

"It is Endet Island...what's wrong about it...?" Nami had to ask what about the island had shaken Robin up this much. Robin was a historian, she knew about the facts of the islands better than she did. Not to mention that she has been running away from the marines for 20 years so she would have more experience.

"Nami! We shouldn't approach that Island! Just move directly towards Florian Triangle!" Robin said in a loud, rising voice, almost to the point that could be classified as shouting. Not to mention, Robin wasn't the type to shout very often.

"But…Luffy and Zoro…"

"Are they on the Island?!"

"Yeah, Luffy went first and Zoro chased after him."

"HEYYYYYYYYY!" The very familiar and cheerful voice of their captain called for them. "THERE'S A MAN COLLAPSED HERE! WHAT DO I DO?" he waved his hands around to grab the attention of his crew.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK THE PURPOSE OF A DEN DEN MUSHI IS LUFFY?!" Nami screamed in response over the rail. The point of the transponder snails was so that didn't have to shout pointlessly for a conversation and now he has completely destroyed that purpose.

"WHERE IS IT?"

"DIDN'T YOU SAY YOU BROUGHT IT WITH YOU-" a tap on the shoulder made Nami turn around. "What is it Usopp?" she replied in a slightly irritated tone.

"This…" he said and pointed down towards a transponder snail lying on the grass.

"That idiot!" she slapped her hand against her face. "LUFFY! WAIT THERE FOR US!" she screamed, finding it pretty ironic that she, the navigator, was giving a command to the captain.

"So, we will pick up Luffy and Zoro and maybe that mysterious guy/woman clad in black and depart." Nami sat down, giving more orders to the rest of the crew aboard the ship, Thousand Sunny. "Is that okay with you Robin?"

She gave the simple nod and 'yep' combo, clutching her hand tightly.

"But Robin-chwan, we understand that this island is special in its own way but I feel like we are missing an important detail that you know. Would you mind explaining what this place is?"

"To put it simply, it's an island."

"That's too simple, Robin." Usopp said waving his hand back and forth.

"Fine then," Robin sighed. "How much prior knowledge do you have on 'Endet Island'?"

"None." Sanji turned towards Chopper.

"None." Chopper turned towards Franky.

"SUPER clueless!" Franky turned towards Usopp.

"I only know what Nami told me." Usopp and everyone else looked at Nami.

Nami sighed, feeling tired about repeating the same thing twice. "I only know a bit." She repeated her answer to Robin who listened and nodded.

"You're not wrong but…you're missing very important details." Robin said with shadows creeping over her face. "Nami, you said that only very formidable pirate come across it right?"

"y-yeah."

"It not that very formidable pirates come across it, it's that only the formidable pirates survive this ordeal. It's the survival of the strongest."

"W-wait!" Usopp said whilst hugging Chopper, his trembling legs showed his fear, as did Chopper's no matter how they deny it. "You're making it sound like a cursed Island…"Usopp started

"…or a monsters lair." Chopper finished.

"A cursed island or a monsters lair might have been better off…" Robin's voice trailed off.

Robin did not respond with any clarity. Today, or regarding this topic, Robin always seemed to be rather vague. Her attitude was like it was saying _If you do not know, then you are better off not knowing. _She was trying to look out for the rest of the crew, once…again.

"Robin-chwan, tell us. Then we can work out something together." Sanji entered serious mode.

"This place…is like a hunting ground for pirates." She said.

They gulped. How could the truth be so heavy they all wondered?

"Since all pirates that journey from Water 7 have to pass this island to enter the Florian Triangle, there were some that had the idea of intercepting pirates to take their bounties to the New World. Given that Sabaody Archipelago is close to the marine HQ, handing in pirates as slaves for those who don't have bounties will also turn out to be a profit."

"Then the reason why this place is unknown…"

"Yes." Robin nodded. "The captured either end up in impel Down or are bought as slaves. They are stripped of their freedom. The capturers make their way to the New World without passing on the information."

"But won't some of the marines know of this place and its true purpose?" Usopp asked.

"Even if they do know they won't announce it, they won't do anything about it." Robin said grimly.

"Why?"

"Don't you see Usopp," Sanji said, "Pirates are handing in other pirates, saving them some trouble. If they went ahead and told everyone, no one will set foot on this island anymore which means more and more pirates will start to travel to the New World. Even if they're weak pirates that can easily be taken down, the marines don't want that much problem in their hands."

"But is it definite that every pirate that comes here will land?"

"Close to certain." Robin said. "Think about it, why didn't we want to stop here?"

"Luffy wanted-no. To stock up on resources."

"That's right. This place is a perfect place to stock up on resources, with all the abundant fruits and the rich minerals in the land. Especially since Florian Triangle is thick with fog, everyone will take extra precautions."

"But s-sometimes the pirates won't know when their targets are arriving."

"That's true, so that's why some have spies stake out at Water 7 and others waiting here. But for us, it's a different story. We just wreaked havoc on Enies Loby and our bounties poster just rose so if there were any nearby pirate-hunters or strong pirate crews…..I know that Luffy-and the rest of us are strong, but there is just that unsettling feeling in my stomach that's telling me not to set foot on that island."

"Don't worry Robin-chwan," Sanji reassured. "We haven't seen any pirate ships so far."

Usopp's blood ran cold and started his sweat dropped one after the other.

"I hope I'm just wrong…" Robin said. "Since I've told you this much, let me tell you about the geography and another reason why people say this is a hunting ground."

"Nami's right on how there is different properties in the land, and it's all natural. They are located in the corner of the island, then that material connects into a line at the middle. The rest of the land is weak, so if that all erodes away what shape are you left with?"

"I get it!" Nami said. "It was originally a square but since the weaker bits erode away the shape changes indefinitely. But last time I heard it was a diamond shaped was around, 3 years ago…so they shape would have changed into…" Nami closed her eyes to visualise. "…a cross...no way right?" Nami paled at the realisation.

"What's wrong about a cross Nami-swan?"

"Sanji-kun, what does the 'x' usually mark on a treasure map?"

"The treasure?"

"More specifically, what does it mean when you've found the treasure?"

"The end right?"

Nami nodded. "Since Robin said that it was natural, then it means that for the island to become a cross was its destiny. Its destiny is to mark the end!"

"The person who came up with this idea in the first place is warped." Sanji muttered before turning to Usopp who was as white as a sheet and was silent the entire time.

"Marine HQ, Sabaody, and the people here all call this place as 'Endet Island'- but the people from the New World don't call this place by such name.

"Then…what do they call it?"

"Ending Island: the place that strips you free of everything, especially your freedom."

Such a negative connotation in the name left the Straw hat Pirates speechless, excluding the Captain and first-mate.

"AHHHH!" A familiar, yet piercing scream of their captain echoed through their minds. They turned towards the island.

It was shrouded by a mist, a mist that was not there a minute ago, covering their Luffy and Zoro like blankets. But their silhouettes could be seen. Their strong, fearless captain squirming on the floor, his movements slowing down until he stopped. The swordsman had his head drooped low and was down on one knee, using one of his drawn swords to hold himself up. And an unknown third player, standing up, looking down upon the two.

* * *

Next chapter: What happened to Luffy and Zoro while the crew was talking...*drum roll*

will be exposed in the next chapter!

Thanks for reading, please review :)


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